Room Sharing

The other day I saw one of those inspirational framed quotes (the type you often see in high school classrooms and company breakrooms) that said, "the best time to change is when things are going well." This sounded wise-esque so I decided to apply this reasoning to the boys’ current sleeping situation and moved them into the same bedroom.

With The Third on the way, we knew John and his crib would eventually need to move to Eli's room. Things had been going so well with the boys' sleep patterns that we hadn’t wanted to change anything. However according to that anonymous quote, now was the best time to make a change. Stupid quote. Now I know why it was anonymous.

I completed the hour long task of disassembling the crib, moving it to Eli's room, and reassembling it. Eli was thrilled to have John in his room and John was excited about his new quarters. We put the boys down for a nap and exactly 5 seconds later, "thump! Whaaaa!!" We rushed in to find John on the floor with a bump on his head.

John had never even tried to get out of the crib before. I guess he was waiting until he had his brother for an audience. Since he was successful(ish) I had to take the crib apart a second time and convert it into a toddler bed. When that transformation was finally complete and we put the boys down for their nap, I remembered why the toddler bed is my arch enemy.

Within minutes I could hear John’s little feet running around in the room exploring his new freedom. Eli knows he needs to stay in his bed and won’t get down during nap time. However, that wasn’t going to stop him from playing with toys too.

I was listening just outside their door and here’s what I heard.

Eli: [whispering loudly] Yon-ee get me a train, Yon-ee.
John: [The pitter patter of feet running from the toddler bed and then the crashing sounds of John digging in the toy bin] Deh?

Eli: No, Yon-ee, no. The train. Get the red train.

John: Deh?

Eli: Yes. Can you bring it to Eli?

John: [the pitter patter of feet then his happy squealing when he gives Eli the toy]

This proved to be the way nap time would go for days. The night started off better because the boys would be tired and fall right to sleep but then John started getting out of bed in the middle of the night.

The first night I found him in front of the door. The second night he was halfway under the his bed. Then halfway under Eli’s bed. Then he started falling out of the bed and waking up crying.

Somewhere between me wanting to make John wear a helmet to bed and my wife wanting to move them back into separate rooms we stopped to consult the one additional resource we have with John situations: experience. It didn’t make sense that John was needing to be in the toddler bed months before Eli did. He isn’t any taller than Eli was at his age and the crib is the same. That’s when I realized the crib mattress could do down one more notch.

So, as I was converting the toddler bed back to the crib, I coined my own adage: “If things aren’t going well, change something. Or just don’t be a dummy.” And sure enough, now that John’s secured in the crib things are going well again.

I know I’ll encounter my arch enemy again in the near future, but for now I’m going to abide by a more tried and true saying: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.